How America Created its Failing Food System

Imagine a model of Food Reparations where providing free, nutritious, and culturally affirming food to Black, Brown, and Indigenous children serves as a way to invest back into the communities that have been deprived of their rights for generations. What if this initiative, alongside supporting BIPOC farmers and leaders and promoting land ownership, could create a sustainable framework for a form of reparations? In almost every American school district, cafeterias lose money daily, disadvantaging children and local farmers while benefiting big food corporations. Dr. Harvey, President of FoodCorps, says, “In a net even pursuit, the loser is the child. The farmer is going to lose. The only person that wins is big food.”

FoodCorps is establishing a framework through their Nourishing Futures™ plan, aiming to provide all 50 million students with free, nutritious meals and comprehensive food education by 2030, driving a movement for food justice through partnerships, developing BIPOC leaders, and rallying a community of over 1 million advocates to push for policy changes that ensure free meals for all students, support food education, and strengthen local food systems. In a world shaped by “militarism, capitalism, and racism,” as Dr. Harvey notes, food insecurity is a deliberate result. “From the founding of this country, we thought about food as a political tool that could be weaponized,” he says. FoodCorps is fighting to ensure we have a Food For All system that enables every school to deliver free, healthy meals and food education for all students.